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Microsoft Keyboard and Mouse

Who knew that Microsoft made great keyboards?  After many years working on it, they have hit the jack pot with a new design that makes typing that much easier. While their mouse is light weight and well designed, the jury is still deliberating on the vertically scrolling button on top.

Microsoft’s Keyboard

Microsoft Wireless Comfort Keyboard 1.0 A 

And Wireless Optical  Mouse  2.0 

Microsoft is known for their software. What you may not know is that they have been working diligently on creating peripherals for the PC.

Similar in design to Logitech’s offerings, Microsoft has finally produced a unique take on the “curving” ergonomic keyboard with the Comfort Keyboard 1.0 A which offers a variation on the idea. 

The natural inclination of hands is to rest at angles to each other. The parallel configurations that most keyboards require is counter to the natural way hands sit. To make typing easier, assorted “slanted” and “curved” keyboards hit the market. While they were a hit with some, the change did not sit well with others more comfortable with the familiar. 

Taking aim at this, Microsoft has created a subtly curved key board. The change is not abrupt, but is just enough to make typing a tad easier if not more enjoyable.  Just a few alterations and typing that much easier.  

Magically, Microsoft has hit the right note with regards to the pressure and the feel of their device with some really nice touches. 

The same holds true for the companion wireless optical mouse. Having a great deal more in common with other offerings, surprisingly the Microsoft mouse is a pretty much back to basics operation. There are no side buttons or easy access top bottoms on the mouse. The one big change is that the rotating scroll moves from side to side. 

In theory this is a great idea. However, in practice, it is a moderate success. The give is not always enough to make scrolling horizontally really practical. The side ways motion of the scrolling bar feels flimsy, and it simply does not come to one intuitively. Perhaps if it were more solid, or more responsive, this could be a good idea. As implemented here, it is an interesting notion that is not all together realized. Overlooking that, feel wise, weight wise and battery life wise, there is much to appreciate here. 

Summation 

For those that spend hours typing, Microsoft has created what has to be one of the better keyboards out there. The function buttons are logically arranged and the whole keyboard looks and responds so much better than most. Where they missed is with the horizontal scroll button. Overlooking that innovation that went south, the benefit of their keyboard certainly outweigh the flaws enormously.